Milten started his big speech.
It had been two weeks since the gang bust.
Two weeks since the Danger Squad faced the Kobra Klan backed up by the Dragon Klan leaders.
Two weeks since Jake's battle with Dao D, head of the Dragon Klan.
Two weeks since Ivy was mutated.
Ivy...
Jake's mind drifted to her again, completely ignoring Milten and his speech to the large crowd in front of them.
The Danger Squad were called to give a press conference in celebration of their defeat of the criminal organizations plaguing Empire City. Everyone on the team seemed excited.
Except Jake himself.
Zack was the most excited of all. How could he not be? This was his dream: to be recognized as a full hero to the world instead of a mindless monster. Men, women, and children looking at him with giant smiles on their faces.
If only Rocket could see him now.
Paulina smiled at her boyfriend. This is exactly what she wanted to see from him. That feeling he lacked when he tried to live a normal life was clear as day in his emerald-green eyes.
She didn't care much for the crowd or fame, but seeing him like this was all she needed.
Stacya was ecstatic.
This was only one step. One step to bridging the gap between her people and the human race. All she needed to do was keep this up. Keep winning more battles, saving more people, and she'd be fully recognized as a hero.
Then maybe, if the Atlanteans saw her efforts, they'd not only remove her banishment but might as well make her their ambassador.
She grinned at the thought.
She gave a wave to the crowd as they cheered. She didn't know if it was for her or a part of Milten's speech she clearly wasn't paying attention to.
Well, to her credit, no one in the team cared to listen.
Luthor was smiling like a schoolgirl under his new Advantagem mask. Milten had prepared a new suit for him with a new black reactor he got a week ago from an unknown client. Luthor didn't even care about it.
He looked through the crowd and saw his beautiful brunette wife, Lana, and his kids. His son, John, was scratching the skin near his collar. Poor boy, having to wear that thing to keep him from turning into...
Luthor refused to dwell on that thought. He rather focused on his daughter Emily, who sported a wide-eyed grin. So innocent she was. So pure. Completely unaware of her father's new job as a super. He was planning on asking for her favorite member of the Danger Squad.
If she ended up saying Warzone, he'd die a happy man.
Max, on the other hand, didn't care about all of this. He saw himself as above it even. He had no need for the cheers of insects. All that mattered was Jake: making him reach his full potential.
Once he did, then everything would fall into place.
Milten finished his speech with a bow, followed by the thunderous roar of the crowd. He gave a smile to his team, alerting them that their little display was over. They all fell behind the scenes in a single file line.
Once they were out of view of the crowd, they stood with each other in a nearby mess hall.
The break was quiet. Only sounds heard were the whispers of non-super staff that passed by.
Eventually, Milten had enough of it.
Milten then turned to Max and smiled at him.
"You're not giving good energy, Max." Milten said with his head slightly tilted.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Max asked in sudden anger.
"You're a super, Max. You can't be standing there acting like a petty thug."
"You couldn't even see my face. How was I acting like anything?"
"Cuz I represent them. The masses. The people you protect. And how I'm seeing you and your edgy little red suit is like some kind of villain."
Zack and Stacya gave a snicker, much to Max's annoyance.
"Whatever. It doesn't matter now. The rest of you were great. Except Jake, though. You looked a bit apathetic. Like you didn't want to be there."
Jake wanted to speak but he cut himself off. Then, after a long pause, he finally put the words together.
"Sorry. I was thinking of Ivy."
Everyone turned and stopped to look at him. Jake, however, kept his eyes on Milten.
"Don't worry, friend. We'll get her back. Now isn't the time to discuss it, cuz then we'd miss out on history in the making." Milten said, his arm stretched wide.
"History?" Zack asked.
"Oh, I haven't told you? The Super Society is having a meeting and we were invited."
"What?" Max shouted first. "But we aren't members."
"We're still partners supported by the government. Plus, this matter extends to all supers. Not just those in the Super Society. I've even heard some vigilantes were invited to this thing."
"That's dandy and all, but how are we gonna get there?" Luthor questioned.
"Simple. This." Milten then pulled out a small orange card. Just when one of them was going to question him on it, he rubbed the card.
And suddenly, in the blink of an eye, they all disappeared.
And reappeared outside the main meeting hall.
Of the Super Society.
Luthor was in shock at the sudden teleportation, still gasping for air and processing what happened.
He wasn't the only one as Stacya was still reeling from the experience as well. Seems the sudden change of scenery did a number on her enhanced senses.
As for Zack, he was in awe. He was right outside their main hall. The place where all the Supers met to discuss their affairs. He had only been here once when accompanying Captain Rocket during his early training days.
Now he was going to be among the greatest once more. Not as just an observer, but as one of them.
Paulina looked at him and smiled. She hadn't entered the hall before, as her team were seen as nothing but vigilantes. It was a strange experience to be here.
She didn't show much care for the place. In fact, her mind drifted elsewhere. If the real Paulina was here, how would she react? Happy? In shock? In awe like Zack? Indifference?
For now, she'll never know. All she could do now was smile and indulge Zack and his fanboying.
Jake didn't care much for the place as well. One look and it gave him the fake and fancy attitude he felt when watching supers in the news. It was exactly how he thought it would look like.
A sort of Greek temple, held by pillars of gold and a giant shining red door. Surrounding the building was a luscious garden of various plants he never even heard of, probably picked up by supers in their various escapades.
The kind of place people who thought they were superior to everyone would congregate.
Not him.
He wasn't like them.
Despite not looking like it, he was as human as everyone else.
That was a fact he would never abandon.
Jake scoffed at the large building and let his mind wander.
First was how he got here.
Then he remembered the mission.
Then he remembered his fist with Dao D.
Then Ivy...
No.
He backtracked immediately. He couldn't think of her now. Otherwise talking to the supers on their later agenda would be a problem with her at the back of his mind.
He thought of Dao D then. How powerful he was. How he outclassed Jake in every way.
And how he was defeated.
Wait...
How the hell was he defeated?
He remembered Max asking a similar question a week ago.
He decided to keep that at the back of his mind instead. Who knows? Maybe this godforsaken place may hold the answer.
"Shall we go in?" Milten said, followed by a steady nod from Max and Zack rushing forward to overtake them.
He opened the doors in excitement and was filled with boyish glee at what he saw.
Supers.
More than sixty of them.
"I've got some private business to attend to." Milten said with a smirk. "Make yourselves comfortable. Mingle. Make friends. These guys are our colleagues. Who knows? Maybe some of them might wanna leave the Super Society and join our team?"
After that Milten walked away. While the others focused on looking for something to do, Max watched Milten descend a flight of stairs not far from the entrance.
"Where are you off to?" Max thought as he detached a tiny piece of himself and flung it at Milten. The piece then grew a little face as it landed on Milten's back.
"You coming, Max?" Jake said, catching Max off guard.
"Oh. Uh... you go ahead. You know me. I'm not really the social type." Max said and leaned on a nearby pillar. Jake smiled at him and followed the rest of the group.
As the team walked across the large hall, each of them got something to do. Jake caught up to them and analyzed the scene.
The problem was, he had no idea who any of those people are.
That is, until Paulina appeared from behind him.
"Not in your element, eh?" She said with a sly smile.
"I have no idea who any of these guys are or how they behave. That's all." Jake said bluntly. He had rarely ever talked to Paulina. He tried looking into her eyes to figure her out but saw nothing there. It was like she was an emotionless automaton.
Fitting since she was a cyborg.
The only problem was she was unpredictable.
"So you don't want to say something to the wrong person. Gotcha."
Jake shrugged.
"Well then, let's fix that, shall we?" She said and pointed to her left.
Zack and Stacya were eagerly talking to a group of teens wearing matching overalls.
"The Icons. Androids made by the deceased scientist Dr. Icon. Their names are Bash, Smash, Crash, Slash, and Clash. The names are a bit on the nose, but still. They're not human but surely act like it. Well, more than I can, anyway."
That last part caught Jake off guard.
"So even she knows she's abnormal as hell in that regard?" Jake thought to himself before telling her to go on.
She pointed to their right and saw Luthor talking to a group of pro-wrestling-looking supers.
"What's with the wrestlers?"
"They're called K.O. A team of victims from an underground human fighting ring that Major Payne busted a few years ago. The whole wrestling thing is part of their team. They go by Goldberg, Powerhouse, Acrobat, and Wolfgirl."
Jake then looked forward and his jaw dropped. Before he knew it, right in front of Paulina and him was a mountain of a man. Around 10 feet tall with biceps the size of Jake's whole torso.
The two tried to avoid eye contact with him while wondering how the hell he got in front of them without noticing.
Paulina was contemplating what to say, as the wrong words could potentially start something toxic.
Then suddenly, Jake spoke...
To be continued...